Nurses union bemoans lack of health-care progress in Manitoba, rally planned
More than 500 Manitoba nurses are expected to attend a rally at the legislature Wednesday, calling for changes in the province's health-care system.
Despite a change in provincial government almost two years ago, the Manitoba Nurses Union says its members are still encountering the same broken health-care system shift after shift and that they are feeling disappointed and frustrated with the lack of progress.
President Darlene Jackson told 680 CJOB's The Start that wait times are up and workplace violence is increasing, turning many nurses away from the profession.
'There's probably not a shift in the last year that there hasn't been violence in some facility, or probably all facilities, some type of violence … and that is massive.
'Nurses are leaving because of it. I had one nurse that said to me, 'I loved my job at the Health Sciences Centre, but I'm not putting my life at risk to go to work.''
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Jackson said promises made by the NDP government have, so far, seemed empty, and nurses are growing more frustrated as morale continues to deteriorate.
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'We are still seeing nurses working short with the incredibly heavy workloads — mandated overtime and tons of voluntary overtime is still a thing,' she said.
'Our wait times are rising eyery year. They rose again this year. Nurses are frustrated because we truly hoped that we would see some big differences in health care based on the promises and we're just not seeing that.'
Jackson, who has been a nurse since 1981, told The Start the state of health care in the province is now worse than it was in the 1990s when nurses went on strike.
While the MNU says it would give the province's current health care situation a D-minus grade, a spokesperson for Doctors Manitoba said that organization has a slightly more positive view.
'Looking at the evidence we have on health care, and considering there was a pandemic and years of disruption and underfunding, Doctors Manitoba would grade the progress of the last 18 months as a B-minus — improvement still needed, but on the right track,' they said in a statement.
The spokesperson said Manitobans still have reasons to have concerns about the system — with 'unreasonably long' wait times and hospitals experiencing service closures, plus burnout among doctors. Improvement has been seen, however, as far as recruitment to turn around the doctor shortage and wait-time improvements in certain areas.
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'There's still a lot that as to get better, but it's safe to say Manitoba is on the right track when it comes to improving health care,' the statement said.
Global News has reached out the premier and health minister for comment.
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